Bears notes: Chicago wilts after strong 'D' in first quarter

The Bears held Minnesota scoreless in the first quarter, but still wound up surrendering their most yards in 27 years in a 36-10 loss to the Vikings on Sunday.

Matt Trowbridge

The Bears held Minnesota scoreless in the first quarter, but still wound up surrendering their most yards in 27 years in a 36-10 loss to the Vikings on Sunday.

The Vikings (10-1) ran for 159 yards and Brett Favre passed for 392, with one sack, as Minnesota finished with 537 total yards. That’s the most against Chicago since the Rams gained 583 yards in 1982.

Favre completed 32 of 48 passes and Minnesota had five different receivers with at least 51 yards.

“He can pretty much go to anybody,” Bears cornerback Zack Bowman said.
The Bears actually won that game in 1982. The Rams’ Vince Ferragamo passed for 509 yards, but Walter Payton ran for 104 yards and had 102 receiving for Chicago.

Long injury list
Bears cornerback Charles Tillman left the game with a head injury. Left tackle Orlando Pace (groin), linebacker Lance Briggs (knee) and defensive end Alex Brown (leg) also left with injuries, although Brown came back and finished the game.

“That hurt us, but I don’t think that had a whole lot to do with our play,” coach Lovie Smith said.
Brown said the injuries stunk, but were just part of the game.

“Injuries happen,” he said. “You just adjust and keep going.”

Costly interceptions
The Bears trailed 17-7 before Jay Cutler threw two interceptions in the final three minutes of the first half, one in the end zone and the other at the Minnesota 30. Cutler said those plays changed the game.

“We were hanging in there,” Cutler said, “and then we had a couple of turnovers. You can’t do that against a team like this.”

Vikings bits
Brett Favre became the first NFL player with 500 career touchdowns with 488 passing and 14 rushing. … Former Packer Ryan Longwell set a Vikings’ record with his ninth career 50-yard field goal with Minnesota. … Jared Allen had two sacks against Chicago for the third straight game and also had his first career interception. … Favre tied a Vikings record with his eighth 100-plus passer rating of the season. … The Vikings scored at least 30 points for the seventh time this year, second to the 11 times they did so in 1998, when they had the second-highest scoring team in NFL history.